Thailand’s largest IPO of 2018 climbs as much as 3% in debut

The Thailand Future Fund, an infrastructure fund put together by the military government, jumped in its trading debut in Bangkok.

The fund reached 10.30 baht per unit in early trading, a climb of 3 percent from the offering price of 10 baht per unit, exceeding the advance in the benchmark SET index

Key insights

The fund raised 44.7 billion baht ($1.3 billion) in Thailand’s biggest initial public offering of 2018, part of about $2 billion raised in first-time share sales in the country in October alone, despite the rout in emerging-market equities. The fund will receive toll revenue from two existing highways and use the money it’s raised to finance other infrastructure projects. The long-delayed listing is a key element of the Thai military government’s push to accelerate infrastructure projects and bolster investment in Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy. Officials are mulling whether to set up another infrastructure fund, this time for telecom assets, in 2019. “This fund will be the platform for the government to raise money for future large infrastructure projects without destabilising public debt,” Transport Arkhom Termpittayapaisith said in a briefing.

� L.P